


Lance's Guide to Love

by PoorUnfortunateSoul



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Psychology, non-binary Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-01-26 12:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12556932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoorUnfortunateSoul/pseuds/PoorUnfortunateSoul
Summary: "We learned, subconsciously, how to nurture and give affection to others through the affection we received, but if Keith never experienced the amount we did…”“Then he wouldn’t know how to give any,” Lance finishes. “Quiznak, and I yelled at him for it.”-----------Or, five times Lance taught Keith how to be someone's boyfriend, and one time he didn't have to.





	1. Prologue

Lance likes Keith. Hell, he’d even go as far as saying that he’s in love with the guy at this point. But, man, could he be a shitty boyfriend sometimes.

“And _then_ ,” Lance continues, “he tells me that he doesn’t know how to cuddle. Who the hell doesn’t know how to cuddle? It’s like a hug, except you like, lay down for it. It’s not exactly hard.”

Pidge hums to show that they are listening, but they don’t look up from whatever gadget they’re working on. Lance hasn’t quite figured out what it is yet.

“Anyways, to make a long story short because I know that you’re only humoring me because Hunk is sick and you don’t want me to bother him-“

“Thank you,” Pidge cuts in, glancing up at him.

“-you’re welcome. As I was saying, long story short, Keith got mad that I called him out on his bullshit and stormed out. What’s your genius analysis on the situation?”

Pidge pauses their tinkering for a second, thinking it over. Lance finally sits down next to them, and he’s careful not to bump the thing they’re working on. They seem relieved that Lance is finally sitting. He can’t help it; he paces and is heavily animated when he rants, especially when it comes to Keith.

“Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe Keith really doesn’t know how to cuddle?” Pidge asks. Lance snorts. “I’m serious! Keith grew up in a few different foster homes, didn’t he?”

“Yes?” Lance says, dragging out the word in confusion.

“Look, you guys grew up in entirely different environments. Your family was loving and supportive and Keith…” They trail off, and both of them grimace at the words Pidge left implied. “Children that aren’t nurtured when they’re young, don’t know how to nurture others when they’re older.”

Lance’s eyebrows squish together in confusion, and Pidge sighs.

“Okay, a lot of how you function as an adult, depends on how well your parents or caregivers did at raising and loving you. I mean, a lot of people that we consider to be serial killers, and show no emotion when they do the killings, we call crazy. They aren’t really what we consider ‘crazy’ because ‘crazy’ has no explanation, but psychologically speaking, there’s a reason that they kill. Most of the time, it’s because no one bonded with them when they were a baby. The whole design of a baby is to make you fall in love with them-“

Lance breaks up Pidge’s ranting with a bark of laughter. Pidge gives him The Look.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just- you said ‘design’ like someone made a robot baby or something. I’m sorry, continue, I’m interested in whether or not my boyfriend is secretly a serial killer.”

Pidge rolls their eyes.

“Keith isn’t a serial killer. People who didn’t bond as a baby don’t feel emotions like you or I do, and we both know Keith displays evidence of feeling things.”

Lance nods solemnly. Sometimes, he worries about the sheer amount of feelings that his boyfriend seems to have.

“Keith obviously bonded as a baby, but there were still some crucial years where he was basically just… alone. We learned, subconsciously, how to nurture and give affection to others through the affection we received, but if Keith never experienced the amount we did…”

“Then he wouldn’t know how to give any,” Lance finishes. “Quiznak, and I yelled at him for it.”

Pidge hums.

“Yeah, you did. That’s normally what happens. People like Keith can still learn how to do that stuff, but no one really wants to teach an eighteen plus year old what cuddling means.”

Lance bangs his head back against the wall, and Pidge winces at the sound.

“So, what do I do?”

Pidge shrugs.

“Apologize.”

“Apologize,” Lance repeats, “Right, yeah. Okay, I can do that. Thanks for listening, Pidge.”

“Anytime,” Pidge says, turning back to tinker with their gadget, “And by anytime, I mean anytime that Hunk isn’t sick. I’m not your therapist.”

“You wound me,” Lance says, but he’s grinning.

————————————————  
Lance, as per usual, finds Keith exiting Shiro’s room. He briefly wonders if Shiro is more open to playing therapist to Keith than Pidge is to himself, before barreling right into Keith.

Keith looks at Lance in surprise, as he slaps his hands against the wall on either side of his head. They make eye contact, and Lance can see Keith trying not to shrink back from the awkwardness of it.

“You weren’t loved as a baby,” Lance blurts out, before realizing that he probably should’ve said that more delicately. Or not at all.

Keith scowls.

“Gee, thanks for the update, Lance.”

He tries to sound angry, but Lance can hear the hurt undertones. He tries not to let it get to him as he pushes forward.

“Okay, that came out wrong. What I meant to say, was that I talked to Pidge-“  
  
“You talked to Pidge about how no one loved me when I was a baby?” Keith asks, unimpressed.

“Oh, my god, can you please forget that I said that? For ten seconds?” Keith rolls his eyes, but he nods. “Okay, good. Anyways, I talked to Pidge after our fight, because Hunk is sick with some space flu, and they told me that you might’ve not been given the amount of affection that they or I did since your home life wasn’t the best. They said that if you didn’t get it, then you might really not know how to cuddle.”

Keith looks away from him.

“I told you that I didn’t,” he mutters at the floor.

Lance’s heart squeezes at the look on Keith’s face. It’s like he wants to be mad at Lance, but it keeps coming back to him. There’s a want to know how to cuddle plastered across his expression, and Lance can’t believe that something like that could exist.

“I know,” Lance says, squeezing Keith’s shoulders, “I know you don’t. And I’m sorry that I yelled at you instead of tried to teach you. I promise I’ll teach you all about love and affection and all that gross girly stuff from now on, okay?”

Keith looks back at Lance. Something like hope and gratefulness flickers in his eyes.

“Okay,” Keith says.

“Good,” Lance says, smiling. “Now, lets go somewhere else and I’ll teach you all about cuddling, because I’m sure Shiro would like to be able to leave his room sometime today.”

The both hear a muffled “thank you” from through the door, and Keith blushes. Lance snorts.

“You can tell him all about our love life, but God forbid he hear it.”

Keith rolls his eyes. Lance drops his arms and they both head down the hallway.

Grinning, Lance slips his hand into Keith’s and says, “This is called hand holding.”

“I know what hand holding is, you ass,” Keith says, dropping Lance’s hand and whacking him playfully in the stomach before taking off running.

“Just checking,” Lance says, chasing after him.


	2. Communication

1.

Lance likes to think of himself as an honest guy. He doesn’t lie just for the sake of it, and only lies when the truth would hurt someone. It has to be small lies, of course, like Lance pretending like he understands Pidge’s explanation, because if he doesn’t get it after the fifth way they explain it, they give up. Lance does not like seeing a dejected Pidge.

So, it comes as a bit of a shock when Keith calls Lance a liar with a scowl on his face, and storms out of the room. Rationally, Lance knows he should give Keith his space. He had his ‘leave me alone so I can sort out my emotions’ face on. His emotional side, however, reacts to being called a liar with no explanation given, and chases his moody boyfriend out of the room.

“What the Hell do you mean, I’m a liar?” Lance demands, grabbing onto Keith’s shoulder and forcing him to look at him.

Keith crosses his arms and looks at the floor.

“It means you lied to me, Lance,” Keith says, scowling.

Instead of the anger Lance expects to find with that statement, he just finds a lot of hurt in his boyfriend’s body language. It makes him soften up a bit.

“What did I lie to you about?” Lance asks, and then, when Keith doesn’t answer, says, “You have to tell me why you’re upset, babe; I can’t read your mind. Making me guess is just going to hurt us both.”

Keith looks up at him, and seems to consider his words.

“You told me that… that you’d teach how to do this boyfriend stuff,” Keith says slowly, flushing with embarrassment. “But it’s been three weeks, and you haven’t even offered to teach me anything new. We haven’t cuddled either, and I thought that maybe it was just because we’ve been busy with Voltron stuff lately, but you still hang all over Hunk and Pidge, but never me. Did I do that bad at cuddling? Do you not like me anymore because I’m… defective?”

Lance slaps his own forehead, groaning. Keith jumps at the sound, looking at Lance with wide eyes.

“God, I’m an idiot,” Lance mutters, “Keith, no, I don’t not like you anymore. I just didn’t think you’d want to jump into that kind of stuff so quickly.”

Keith tilts his head.  
“Cuddling? I thought I made it pretty obvious that I like cuddling you…” he trails off.

Lance laughs, and Keith scowls at him again. He laughs harder.

“No, I meant PDA; you barely let Shiro touch your shoulder when the others are around without flinching away from it. I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I wouldn’t be uncomfortable,” Keith says quickly, and then looks embarrassed by the speed that the words came out.

Lance grins.

“I’m glad,” he says. “This can be lesson one for your boyfriend training, then. Communication is key. Anytime you’re uncomfortable with how something is going in our relationship, or I hurt you somehow, we sit down and talk about it. It’s how a healthy relationship works.”

“Okay,” Keith says slowly, processing. “You’ll do the same too, right?”

He seems worried that Lance would just let the hurt slide, but obviously doesn’t want that; doesn’t want to hurt Lance. He can’t help the rush of affection he suddenly feels for the boy in front of him.

“Right,” Lance says, and Keith seems relieved.

“Okay, because I had this had foster family once, and it seemed like they talked about things. I guess the one never got to say what she felt though, and she held it all in until she couldn’t love her husband anymore, and everything just turned to hatred. I don’t want you to hate me,” Keith says, sounding small.

He reminds Lance of his younger brother, and the way he worries whenever their parents fight. He pulls Keith towards himself, and hugs him tightly.

“I’m not going to hate you, babe,” he promises softly, as Keith relaxes against him.

“That makes me happy,” Keith says in his ear, quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 127 kudos... with one chapter... on a silly little thing that I put barely any effort into so I could have a break from the heavy planning that comes with the all the other stuff I'm writing right now... what the hell? Is the Voltron fandom always like this? No wonder everyone's scared of it lol
> 
> Thank you, though! <3 I never really thought it'd get more than 50 kudos completed, let alone over twice that with only 1/7 chapters up cx


	3. Comfort

2.

 

Keith takes Lance’s lesson and runs with it. Lance can’t count the amount of times his boyfriend embarrasses him with his new sense of brutal honesty. Anytime Lance’s hand gets the least bit sweaty, Keith has to call him out on it before shaking his hand off.

Lance respects Keith’s right to not be touched by sweaty palms but God, he wishes he’d be more discreet about it. The whole damn castle doesn’t have to know about it. The first time he’d done it, they’d been watching a movie with Pidge. Lance doesn’t see them finally letting it go in the near future.

So yeah, Keith was following Lance’s boyfriend lessons well. He’d only dated three people back on Earth - one of which was a middle school relationship, so he doesn’t really count it - but Keith is definitely the most open person Lance has ever been with.

He can’t believe he’d thought Keith was this talented, cool and mysterious guy he had to live up to back on Earth. There was no doubting that Keith is talented, and, Lance might be a little biased in saying so all things considered, cool, but mysterious? Please; Keith wears his heart on his sleeve, and if you keep up with his train of thought, you know exactly what said heart is saying.

Sometimes it’s a little hard to decipher. All those years of near isolation and the months of total isolation, left his self-expression a little lacking. Thanks to growing up with such a large family, full of younger kids that struggle with the same thing, Lance likes to think that he’s the second best Keith translator in the castle. Right behind Shiro, of course, but he’ll become the best with time.

Speaking of his family, Lance is starting to miss them more and more lately. He goes through spurts where he misses them so much that it psychically aches. He always gets through it, but he knows he’s always a little more quiet when he’s going through it; a little more distant.

He should’ve known his lessons would come back to bite him in the ass.

“Lance,” Keith calls, knocking at his door for the umpteenth time that night, “you have to eat. Please.”

Lance snorts at the hesitant politeness in his boyfriend’s voice. Keith knocks again just as he gets up to open the door.

“Yes, mom,” he says, slipping his arm through the door.

Keith hands him the plate and tries to peer in through the small crack Lance left.

“Were you crying?” Keith asks.

“No,” Lance lies, trying to shut the door.

“You were,” Keith says, pushing back against the door. “Lance, let me in. Didn’t you say that we’re supposed to talk about things?”

Well, fuck, Lance thinks.

“Uh… no? Well, yes, but.. not this!” Lance argues.

“Why not? Lance, if something is upsetting you enough that you’re crying, then I want to be there for you.”

The more time goes on, the stronger Keith pushes at the door. Lance’s arms shake with the effort of keeping it shut.

“Because I don’t want you to see me right now.”

“Eh? Why not?” Keith asks, losing his advantage over the door war they have going on in his confusion.

“God, you’re like a toddler with all of these ‘why’ questions, you know that?” Keith makes an unamused sound from the other side of the door. “Look, I’m an ugly crier and I don’t want you to see, okay?”

“I don’t have to look,” Keith reasons, “I can just close my eyes.”

“… I’m not winning this one, am I?”

Keith grunts and Lance sighs,before dropping his arms. Without Lance pushing on the door, Keith tumbles in with a small startled noise.

“A warning would’ve been nice,” Keith says, covering his eyes.

Ignoring him, Lance shuts the door to his room. He turns around to see Keith blindly trying to find his way to the bed.

“You look like a fish out of water,” Lance says, grabbing his elbow.

Keith lets Lance guide him to the bed and he sits next to him. Keith reaches out to him, eyes still closed, and pulls Lance close to his chest.

“What’s the matter, sharpshooter?” Keith asks.

Lance snorts in amusement at the nickname he picked out for himself, before sighing sadly.

“I miss home,” Lance says miserably, “It happens when things get slow around here. I’ll get over it eventually.”

“Oh,” Keith says, “Is there… anything I can do to make you feel better? I don’t really know how to comfort people.”

Lance’s lips twitch into a ghost of a smile, and he wraps his arms around Keith’s waist.

“Boyfriend lesson three - er, for dating me at least - when sad, comfort with cuddles. Especially yours.”

“Especially mine?” Keith asks, clearly amused.

“Yeah. They’re the best.”

“Mm, that’s because I learned from the best,” Keith murmurs, resting his forehead on the crown of Lance’s head.

Lance laughs, but it comes out strained. Keith seems to notice, and tightens his hold on Lance just before the first tears fall.

“I’ve got you, sharpshooter,” Keith says quietly, kissing the top of Lance’s head. “I’ve got you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while. November was full of deadlines for school (ya girl almost killed herself getting on the dean's list this past semester, I swear to God) so I didn't have much time for writing. 
> 
> I'd like to say that this means that I'll update regularly again, but, and I really hate using this as an excuse, I was diagnosed with seasonal effective disorder last year, so my motivation until like, mid-march is usually severely lacking. I'm trying, but I make no promises.


	4. Affection

3.

 

“Keith has been acting weird lately,” Lance complains, taking the blue-green cooking Hunk wants him to test.

“I feel like that’s your weekly complaint,” Hunk says, as Lance takes a bit.

He chews thoughtfully for a second before swallowing.

“Chocolate peanut butter,” Lance says, and Hunk hisses a quiet shit, letting Lance know that it’s not the kind of cookie he was going for.

It’s good though. Really good. Lance was never able to indulge in his pean butter obsession as a kid, being deathly allergic and all, but the not-peanut-butter that Hunk found on the last planet they visited doesn’t seem to give him the same reaction. He might take the whole tray back to his room for himself.

“Yeah,” Lance admits, becHeause sometimes he feels like he can read Keith like a book, and other times he’s like an entirely different species, instead of being a partly different one. He almost laughs at his own joke, but then he realizes that he’d have to explain to Hunk why he’s laughing, so he doesn’t do it. “I mean weirder than usual, though.”

Hunk hands Lance a bright red cookie this time, and he happily accepts.

“Why don’t you ask him about t?” Hunk asks, frowning at his failed batch of blue-green cookies.

“Sugar cookie,” Lance declares, glaring down at the red monstrosity.

Hunk seems about it though, so Lance figures that sacrificing his tastebuds was worth it. Hunk hands him another cookie - yellow, this time - and Lance eyes it wearily.

“I tried,” he says, before nibbling of a piece of the cookie cautiously. “Keith just reaches out to me, but he drops his arm everytime I look at him. I keep trying to ask him what’s up, but his face just gets all red and he makes an excuse to leave.”

“Weird,” Hunk agrees, finishing off the red cookie Lance started.

Shiro enters the room then, and Hunk’s face lights up.

“If anyone knows what’s up with Keith, it’s Shiro. You know why Keith’s been acting weird about Lance lately?” Hunk asks.

Shiro groans and takes the cookie Hunk offers him. He shoves it in his mouth as he leans against the counter Lance is sitting on.

“He still hasn’t talked to you?” Shiro asks, looking at Lance.

He shakes his head and Shiro groans.

“I love Keith,” Shiro starts, “but I can’t believe the same kid that laid out his entire tragic past for you after drinking the tiniest bit of alien alcohol, which wasn’t even that strong mind you, can’t tell you he wants a hug.”

“I… don’t know what this is,” Lance says, looking down at the cookie. “It tastes like a graham cracker. Anyways, a hug?”

Hunk takes the cookie from Lance and takes a bite. He stares at in bewilderment, as Shiro leans his head back against the cabinet.

“Yeah. He keeps complaining that he wants you to be more physically affectionate sometimes, and I said ‘did you talk to him’? He says ‘yeah’ and maybe you guys have, I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I know everything about your relationship. Anyways, I said ‘then why don’t you initiate it?’ And he said ‘I can’t. What if he doesn’t want to hug me?’”

Hunk snorts.

“Lance not wanting a hug? Please. Lance would hug Haggar if she asked,” Hunk exaggerates.

Lance makes an offended noise.

“I want to argue with you. I really do. But all this talk about hugging just really makes me want to hug something.”

Hunk grins and steps forward.

“I’ve got ya’, buddy,” he says, hugging Lance.

“Thank you,” Lance says, and it’s muffled by Hunk’s shoulder.

Shiro ruffles Lance’s hair affectionately, and he makes a small appreciative noise.

“Anyways, I told him that he either has to talk to you or initiate the hugs himself. He kind of just sulked at me.”

“Sounds like Keith,” Hunk says.

Lance nods, and gets he smallest feeling like he betrayed his boyfriend. They’ve had many conversations on whether or not Keith actually pouts. Keith says it’s his thinking face. Lance doesn’t think it counts as a thinking face if all he’s pondering about is how to murder the rest of them and get away with it. It’s totally pouting.

“Thanks, Shiro. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

Shiro nods, and pushes himself away from the counter.

“Anytime. Anyways, Allura is having Coran drop us off at a nearby planet for our date tonight, so I should go get ready. Mind if I steal a few more cookies before I go?”

“What,” Lance teases, “scared that you won’t like the alien food?”

Shiro grimaces and Lance laughs. Hunk hands him a plate of the sugar cookies. Good riddance.

“Thanks,” Shiro says, taking his leave.

Hunk shakes his head as they watch him go.

“I can’t believe how much he puts up with to make Allura happy. Crazy what love makes you do, huh?” Hunk says, resting his elbow on Lance’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Lance says, “It kinda is.”

——————  
The next day, Lance notices Keith reach out to him from the corner of his eye. They’re both lying down in Blue. Lance wanted to clean her out since they had some downtime, and Keith offered to keep him company. Lance finished cleaning a bit ago, but neither have made a movie to leave.

Before Keith can completely drop his hand, Lance grabs it and slips his fingers through his boyfriend’s.

“You know,” Lance says, pulling Keith closer, “if you want my attention, you just have to ask. Unless there’s something absolutely dire that needs my attention, I’ll happily give it all to you.”

Keith blushes but maintains eye-contact with Lance.

“You talked to Shiro,” Keith says.

He doesn’t sound accusatory like Lance has been expecting but it’s not a question either.

“Yeah,” Lance says anyways. “Looking back, that might’ve been an invasion of privacy. I’m sorry.”

Keith looks away and squeezes Lance’s hand.

“It’s okay. I should’ve talked to you more myself.”

Lance squeezes his hand back.

“I thought we had talked about it.”

“We talked about some of it,” Keith agrees, “but not all.”

Lance watches Keith sit up. He reaches a hand out and smoothes the hair back from his face.

“Do you want to talk about it now?”

Keith looks away.

“Not really,” he says honestly, “but I don’t think I’ll ever want to, so I might as well get it out of the way. It’s just… I’ve never had a relationship before where it’s okay to ask for attention.”

Lance cocks his head.

“What do you mean?”

Keith looks away and Lance notices the signs of Keith closing in on himself. He sits up and wraps his arms around Keith.

“Hey, hey, don’t shut up me out,” Lance says, “I’m not making of you, I’m just trying to understand.”

Keith seems to consider it for a moment, before saying, “A lot of my foster families got angry when I asked for attention, or some of affection. Some even got violent. It’s just hard, I guess, to go past the fear of hugging someone at the wrong time and them slapping me or something. I don’t know.”

Lance’s heart aches in his chest. He’d always been a needy kid, and his mother was always accommodating, despite how many children she had. She always seemed to be able to have time for all of them, and Lance can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up without that.

“Oh, Keith,” Lance says, “You know that they were the ones in the wrong, right? There’s nothing wrong with kids wanting acknowledgement from their parental figures.”

Keith rests his forehead on Lance’s shoulder.

“That’s the same thing Shiro said to me, a while ago. It was something we were working on before the kerberos mission, but…” Keith trails off, and Lance doesn’t push. “And, now, with all that’s been happening, my own personal problems are an afterthought.”

Keith doesn’t sound nearly as petty or bitter about it as Lance would feel. It makes his insides squirm that Keith is so used to being an afterthought that he’s not even phased anymore.

“You’re not an afterthought,” Lance says, rubbing his back. “Not to me, and not to Shiro. He was worried about you, when I asked about you. You just need to ask, and we’ll be there. I promise you.”

Keith clutches onto the back of Lance’s shirt, and small, broken sob escapes his mouth. Lance presses a kiss to the side of Keith’s head before nuzzling the spot.

“You’re my first thought,” Lance promises, “Always.”


	5. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a lot of feelings about his boyfriend.

4.

Lance is woken up by a tentative knock at roughly 2 A.M. He’s too thrown off by the hesitance in the knock to be mad about being woken up.

Lance open his door, and finds Keith on the other side. He’s in his boxers and a t-shirt, and has the comforter from his room draped over his head.

“Cute,” Lance mumbles, rubbing his eyes.

In his defense, Lance is still half asleep. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have so easily said something that would get him punched.

Luckily for him, Keith seems to be half-asleep himself, because he shyly murmurs, “Likewise.”

Lance smiles and leans against the doorframe. Keith looks down and shifts his weight to the other foot.

“I had a nightmare, and I didn’t want to be by myself,” Keith says quietly, leaning forward like he’s trying to make sure Lance is the only one who can hear, despite the next occupied room being more than half a hallway away. “Can I sleep with you?”

Lance bites back a sarcastic remark about the ‘sleep with you’ wording, and says, “Of course.”

Keith immediately looks grateful. Lance steps to the side to let him in.

“Little spoon or big spoon?” Lance asks, shutting the door behind him.

“Don’t you like being the little spoon?” Keith asks, still hovering awkwardly by Lance’s bed.

“I do,” Lance admits, walking over to Keith. He places his hands on his shoulders and smiles at him. “This is comforting Keith time, thought; we cuddle how you want tonight.”

Keith adverts his eyes, but nods. He shuffles to the side, and Lance takes the hint.

Lance flops down onto the bed, and struggles his way under the blankets. He lifts them up to let Keith slide in. He wraps his arms around his middle, and presses his face against Keith’s hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lance asks, as Keith flips off the lights.

He’s careful not to let Keith’s hair get into his mouth, but he knows it’s futile. It’s the price of being the big spoon, which is why he usually makes Keith do it.

“I dreamt that we lost Shiro again, only this time, I didn’t make it in time. He was dead before we got there, and I kind of messed me up, I guess. If you tell Pidge I said this, I will punch your teeth in, but the thought of losing any of you… its freaks me out. I’m not used to having so many people to care, or worry about at once.”

Lance hums thoughtfully for a moment, running a hand up and down Keith’s arm soothingly.

“Well, for starters, Pidge has feelings too. They might tease you relentlessly, but they’d appreciate hearing it. However, I enjoy my teeth as they are, so I won’t tell them. Second, you can freak out all you need to, I’m going to invalidate your feelings, but Shiro is fine. He’s right here on the ship, asleep just like we should be. We can even go see him if you want.”

Keith snorts. He’s probably trying to sound annoyed, but Lance has learned the difference between an amused snort and a annoyed snort by now, and that was definitely amusement.

“I thought about going to see him first, but with everything that’s been happening lately… I didn’t want to wake him.”

“But waking me is totally fine,” Lance teases.

“Sorry,” Keith says, but he doesn’t sound it. “It’s your fault for being so comforting all the time. You spoil me.”

“Mm, I do,” Lance agrees, kissing Keith’s temple.

Keith’s voice gets quiet and serious as he says, “I think, maybe, that I needed it.”

It makes Lance think about all the small stuff that Keith has said over their two month relationship that has bothered him. He can’t imagine a life without the warmth of his family, or having Pidge and Hunk to care about endlessly.

Sure, Lance never had a huge group of friends. He’s what Hunk calls an aquired taste, and Lance was lucky enough that Pidge and Hunk and Shiro and Keith and Allura happened to have it. He’s always had at least two or three really close friends, so the idea of having only one is foreign to him. What do you do when they’re busy?

Who do you spend time with when they’re your whole world, and they’re gone?

 _No one,_ Lance’s brain supplies. He thinks about about Keith, alone in that tiny shack. He thinks about all the anger Keith had, and the prickly attitude and compares it to now.

There’s still anger. Keith will always be Lance’s lovable hothead, he thinks. But, it’s not as deep seeded anymore. Keith let’s himself feel sad now. Lance doesn’t think Keith got more sensitive over time, he just stopped transferred it over to anger.

He tries to imagine it, having his mother leave and father give him up. Being moved from family to family, house to house, state to state, until finding some stability in Shiro.

Then Shiro’s gone on a mission, and then he’s dead. After finding stability, it’s gone, just as fast as it came. That’s a lot of hurt for one person’s entire life, let alone the first nineteen years. It was probably easier to shift to anger.

Thinking of Kieth’s heart taking so many blows leaves Lance teary-eyed, so he squeezes Keith to him so hard hears him wheeze.

Keith doesn’t complain, so Lane keeps him close as he says, “Yeah, you did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... have no excuse for why this coming out a month later? It honestly feels like it hasn't been that long, this semester is going so god damn slow, but I guess it has. 
> 
> I have the next two chapters already written in a notebook, but I'm hesitant to post them too soon because I don't know what I'm going to do next. I was going to write an The End of the Fucking World AU, but my friend found one for this fandom already asdfgh so I dunno. Maybe I'll finally do a Hybrid Child Au like I've wanted to do for years. idk. 
> 
> I do however want to get it finished before Overwatch's uprising event, because Lord knows I'll be lost in level grinding for loot boxes all month...lol.
> 
> On another note, my sister made me watch Hitorijime my Hero with her and all the soft touches I write between Keith and Lance finally feel valid. There's so many nice hugs in it.


	6. Applying What You've Learned

5.

 

Keith clamps his hands on Lacne’s shoulders and leans over the back of the couch he’s sitting on.

 

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Keith asks.

 

Lance glances back at him briefly before turning back to the screen.

 

“Can I finish this match first? They just added this hero to the game, and I _finally_ got my hands on her.”

 

There’s seven minutes left on the games counter, so Keith sits down next to him. He likes watching Lance play, even if he doesn’t totally understand what’s going on.

 

He knows it’s a game from Earth that Lance loved. Pidge found it on their last shopping trip with Allura. Apparently it’s some sort of mute-player game that let’s Lance play with other aliens all over the universe.

 

Keith doesn’t know how it works, but Pidge and Hunk fawned over how impressive it is when they first brought it back for like a day and half, so. There’s that.

 

“Is he playing that Team Fortress 2 knock-off again?” Hunk asks, walking into the room with the “kiss the chef” apron on that Pidge bought him as a joke.

 

Lance grans next to him. Keith still has no idea what they’re talking about. In fact, if Keith had a penny for everything he ‘didn’t know’ this past week, he’d be rich. In earth standards, anyways.

 

However, he’s heard Lance have the same argument with Matt and Shiro. So, at the very least, he knows that Lance is probably the one in the wrong.

 

“Can you guys stop saying that? Overwatch is so much _better_.”

 

“You literally only think that because you like their butts. No offense, Keith.”

 

Keith shrugs. He knows Lance has a thing for Tracer’s butt. It’s a good butt. He’s not mad. He himself has a thing for the evil scientist chick with the nails - he’s always had a thing for redheads.

 

The weird cyborg ninja dude in the skin Lance said he got from some even is pretty nice to look at too. Uprising, maybe? Whatever. Keith doesn’t remember.

 

“I’m _not_ only into because of their butts! I’m into it for all of the diversity.”

 

“Yeah, the diversity of all the butts your bisexual ass can look at.”

 

Hunk looks impressed with himself when Keith has to cough to cover up a laugh. Keith gives Lance an apologetic smile.

 

“Whatever, Lance. You know if it hadn’t come out in 2007, there would be no Overwatch.”

 

Keith furrows his brow. They’re all arguing about a game that came out in 2007? Weren’t they like…. Eight? He supposes Matt and Shiro would’ve been a little older, and Pidge probably learned about it from Matt, but still.

 

“Uh, you don’t know that Hunk. We don’t live in the dimension where Team Fortress 2 doesn’t exist.”

 

Keith looks between them as they argue. He still has no idea what they’re talking about, but it’s still entertaining, somehow.

 

“Okay, well, one, that’s a reach. Two, you’ve been spending too much time with Pidge. Three, I’m sure even Keith agrees with us.”

 

They both look at him expectantly, and Keith shrinks back into the couch cushions.

 

“I… am neutral,” he says, carefully.

 

They both laugh and Keith relaxes.

 

“Whatever,” Lance says, tossing the controller back to the table as “Victory” flashes across the screen. Keith wonders how he managed to pull that off while arguing with Hunk. Impressive. “I don’t need you corrupting my boyfriend. C’mon, Keith, let’s go back to my room and talk about what you wanted to talk about.”

 

Keith nods and they both get up after Lance turns off the playstation.

 

“Dinner is in half an hour!” Hunk calls after them.

 

Lance waves to show that he’s heard. Once they’re in Lance’s room, Keith settles happily onto the floor and looks at Lance expectantly. Lance gives him an exasperated (but fond) look, and sits on the bed behind him. His fingers instantly find Keith’s hair, and Keith hums, satisfied.

 

“So, I’m guessing since you went for the hair playing instead over a hug, that we’re not in existential crisis mode?”

 

Keith snorts.

 

“Not this time,” he promises, crossing his eyes to watch Lance pull his bangs off of his forehead. “I mostly just wanted to ask for your advice.”

 

“Oh, okay. Can I braid your hair?”

 

“If it’s long enough, I guess?” Kieth says, shrugging. Lance uses his hands to make Keith’s head face the wall. Lance seperates his hair into threes as Keith starts talking. “So, you’re good at comforting people. Like, scary good. You know exactly what people need to hear, when they need to hear it, and I… don’t. Aside from you and Shiro, I’m in way over my head.”

 

Lance unravels the braids he made, humming thoughtfully.

 

“Well, who are you planning on comforting?”

 

“Pidge,” Keith says, picking at loose thread on his jacket. “Have you seen them around Matt and Shirt? Matt’s trying his best to balance his time between his sister and his friend, but Pidge feels left out. Thing is though, they _know_ Matt’s trying his best. They told Hunk that they know they’re being silly and illogical about it. How do you make someone feel better when they’re aware of how illogical their feelings are?”

 

Lance thinks it over, fingers making a braid that pulls half of Keith’s hair back. He seems satisfied with this one, and snaps a hair clip that he’s pretty sure Lance stole from Allura into it.

 

“Well, do you remember the first time you comforted me? Back when I was really missing my family, you asked me what I needed from you. Ask Pidge what they need. It’s all you can do, really.”

 

Keith nods his head slowly.

 

“That… actually makes senses.”

 

Lance quirks an eyebrow.

 

“You sound surprised.”

 

Keith shrugs. He leans his head back to smirk at Lance.

 

“You don’t exactly have the best track record with giving advice.”

 

Lance does that thing where he flails his arms around when he’s offended.

 

“Excuse you! When I ever given bad with advice?”

 

“Uh, how about that one time Hunk wasn’t around to supervise and you gave Pidge cooking advice? You told them to, and I quote, ‘experiment to their heart’s content?”’

 

Lance stills for a moment before clamping his hands on Kieth’s shoulders.

 

“How was I supposed to know they’d take that as the go ahead to make bomb shaped cupcakes?” he demands, shaking Keith.

 

“It’s _Pidge_ ,” Keith points out, and Lance deflates with a huff. “Thank you, though. I’ll to them after dinner.”

 

“okay. Let me know how it goes, yeah?” Lance says, squeezing Keith’s shoulders.

 

“‘Course,” he promises, sealing it with a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I MADE IT BEFORE A MONTH PASSED THIS TIME HI GUYS lmao. 
> 
> so, via my friend Autumn talking over the four ideas I had for the next Klance fic, I finally know what I'm doing next, so expect the last chapter within the week! (I'd say soon, but finals week is coming up, so it's slowly transitioning from 'eh, this isn't due until April I'll wait to do it' to 'FUCK IT'S APRIL AND I DIDN'T DO ANY OF THESE PROJECTS HELP' so maybe like,,, Thursday? Saturday at the latest, but I'm shooting for Thursday.


	7. And One Time he Didn't Have to

\+ 1

 

Keith accompanies Shiro on his next space mall trip. His and Allura’s six months anniversary is coming up soon, and Keith agreed to help him pick out a gift. Mostly because he knew Shiro already knew what he wanted to get her, and all Keith had to do was give a nod to the necklace before getting left to his own devices.

 

Keith wonders the aisles aimlessly as Shiro pays for the necklace. He glances at all the products, stopping when he comes across something familiar looking. Grabbing the blue package off of the self, he flips it over to look at the back of it. It definitely _looks_ like the face masks Lance uses.

 

He vaguely remembers hearing Lance complain about being low on them to Hunk last week. He quickly snatches a few packages from the self, and hurries to meet Shiro in line. Keith slips them into Shiro’s basket, and receives a weird look for it.

 

“Since when do you use face masks?” he asks, shaking the basket for emphasis.

 

“They’re for Lance,” Keith mutters, blush spreading across his face.

 

“Makes more sense,” Shiro decides, shrugging.

 

Keith crosses his arms and looks at the floor, pointedly ignoring the proud look Shiro’s sending his way.

 

“For someone who ‘has no fucking idea what the Hell he is doing’ you’re certainly becoming a great significant other as of late,” Shiro comments.

 

Keith groans.

 

“Can we not do this? Please?”

 

“Oh, come on, Keith, it’s your first love! It’s exciting!”

 

“ _Shiro_ ,” Keith warns.

 

Shiro raises his arms in a surrender motion before moving up in line to pay for their things. Keith shoves his hands in his pockets moodily.

 

——————

 

“Keeeithh!” is his only warning before Keith is nearly knocked on his ass, as Lance flings himself at him.

 

“Jesus Christ, sharpshooter,” Keith wheezes, “We were only gone for two hours!”

 

Lance pouts up at him and it makes him smile. _Cute_.

 

“Yeah, well, why did you guys have to go _just_ before I usually go to bed? Hugging you is a part of my nightly routine now, Keith! I can’t sleep without it, and I need my beauty sleep!”

 

“Hardly,” Keith snorts. Lance yanks himself away from Keith with a flustered look on his face. Keith holds out the bag, “For you.”

 

Lance takes it and pulls out the face masks.

 

“Face masks?” he asks, “Are you trying to tell me something?”

 

Keith’s eyes widen.

 

“What? No! I just - you just - I heard you tell Hunk - I’m sorry?” he offers.

 

Lance snorts before dissolving into a fit of laughter. Keith realizes that he was just teasing him, and scowls.

 

“Oh, haha, very funny,” he says, moving to the drawer with his night clothes in it.

 

Lance wraps his arms around Keith’s waist once he’s done changing and kisses the back of his neck.

 

“Thank you, though. I wasn’t lying when I told Hunk I was running out. I’m gonna go put this on right now, and then it’s off to bed!” Lance says, practically skipping to the bathroom.

 

“You don’t have to do that,” Keith calls, following him into the bathroom. “Knowing you, you already did one tonight.”

 

Lance ignores him and opens medicine cabinet above his sink. Keith freezes when he sees a purple package inside.

 

“I bought you the wrong one,” he observes, “I’m sorry. You don’t have to use it.”

 

Lance looks at Keith and is taken aback by the dejected look on his face.

 

“Aw, Keith,” Lance teases, “you do care!”

 

He squishes Keith’s face in his hands and kisses his forcibly puckered lips.

 

“Of course I care,” Keith says, words jumbled by the squishing. “Shut up.”

 

Lance laughs and drops his hands.

 

“Hey,” he says, serious now, “it’s all good. My skin isn’t like, super sensitive or anything, so this should work just fine. So, really, thank you. I know you don’t get this self-care stuff, but you know that it’s important to me and let me indulge in it, instead of calling me stupid for wasting my money on this stuff, or otherwise put me down for it. I seriously don’t know what I did to deserve you sometimes.”

 

“Didn’t have to do anything to ‘deserve’ me,” Keith says, watching Lance apply the face mask. “Just have to love me too.”

 

Keith’s blood turns to ice when he realizes that he said the ‘L’ word. He turns his wide-eyed gaze the floor. He knows that it’s something that he’s been feeling for a while, but he hadn’t actually planned on saying it out loud anytime soon. Sure, they’ve been in space for a little over a year and a half, but Lance spent six of those months hating him, three of them learning how to tolerate him, six of them calling him his friend, and three of them actually being with him. Surely, it’s too soon to actually _say it_. He should take it back. Or pretend like he never said it, and move on. Make a joke like Lance always does when he says something he doesn’t mean. Yeah, that sounds-

 

Lance gives his wrist a gentle squeeze. It startles Keith back into reality enough for the fond look Lance is giving him to register.

 

“Then I guess I do everything I can to deserve you.”

 

Keith tries to speak, but all that comes out is a strangled noise. Lance smiles, gently placing his hand on Keith’s cheek.

 

“Love you,” he says casually, before turning back to the mirror.

 

“Yeah,” Keith says, coughing. “Love you too.”

 

Lance hums happily and continues to spread the face mask over his skin.

 

“It smells like lilacs! Holy shit, I love lilacs, thank you, Keith!”

 

Keith nods, before he decides that it’s probably a little weird to stare at Lance while they stand in the bathroom together, and walks back into Lance’s room. He flops down onto Lance’s bed, and lazily watches him finish his nightly routine.

 

Keith might not know what he’s doing most of the time, but he knows that he’s hopelessly and endlessly in love with the silly boy in front of him. Thanks to said boy, he might just become a significant other worth having yet.

 

They have the best kind of relationship, Keith decides as Lance shuts off the lights and flops down onto his chest. They love and support each other; they’re each others rocks when things get hard, and they have a decent balance of give and take. They teach each other knew things, and better each other as people.

 

Keith doesn’t know a whole lot about this dating thing, but he does know that no one has filled him with the need to try to get it down like Lance has. Neither has anyone ever had the patience to let him get his bearings and figure out how to be a friend, like everyone on this ship has.

 

Looking back, he can’t believe that he ever doubted Lance’s boyfriend training for a single second. Keith thinks that, all things considered, he’s pretty blessed as of late. _Especially_ since he gets to hold Lance to his chest as he sleeps, because hey, a little drool never hurt anyone, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe that the first chaptered thing I'm finishing is Voltron and not Haikyuu. I was hard stuck in that fandom for like, two years. What the fuck. 
> 
> ANYWAYS, I hope you guys like this last chapter!!! I was super excited to get to it, since the last scene here is what inspired this fic to be written in the first place. (Along with learning about attachment in babies and parenting style/affections affects on children's growth in my general psychology class lmao. yes I am wasting thousands of dollars on psych and creative writing degrees don't @ me.) 
> 
> Thanks for sticking with a fic that's pretty much just 7,000 words of my "if Keith actually grew up the way people write him to have grown up, he would have no idea how to actually have a close relationship because he had no healthy place to model it off of, unless said person took the time to teach him how do it" head canon. 
> 
> The next klance fic I post will have ghost Keith and Pidge explaining the legend of Bloody Mary to an easily convinced Lance. so if you like my writing and are into the supernatural genre as much as I am, look out for by the end of the weekend. This one will actually be updated regularly, because it's almost summer and my summer job only needs me like twice a week so, yay. No feeling guilty for not updating for a month, lol. 
> 
> Side note, I really hate writing "if you like my writing" because it sounds like I'm being cocky or something and I'm really not, I just suck at promoting myself lmao. 
> 
> Not gonna lie, I'm kinda sad that this over. I loved the excuse to write nothing but straight fluff, despite being a total angst addict :')
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3  
> Alex


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